Capped-bottle opener and temporary closure.



APPLICATION FILED JAN. 6; 1904.

NO MODEL.

WITNESSES:

-4. n a TNE mums milks co Pnofoumm was. M570 v UNITED STATES Patented April 26, 1904.

PAT NT OFFICE.

CHARLES CADY, OF BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA.

CAPPE D-BOTTLE OPENER AND TEMPORARY CLOSURE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 758,235, dated April 26, 1904.

Application filed January 6, 1904.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES CADY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Berkeley, in the county of Alameda and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Capped-Bottle Openers and Temporary Closures, of which the following is a specificationi My invention relates to a combined opener and stopple for soda-bottles, beer-bottles, and the like. Its object is to provide a simple device for removing the metal sealing-caps from bottles, at the same time affording means for interengagement with the external annular flange on the bottle-neck to close the bottle and render it air-tight in order to preservethe unused contents of the bottle.

It consists of the parts and the construction and combination of parts, as hereinafter more fully described, having reference to the ac companying drawings, in which Figure 1 represents a plan and side view, respectively, of a bottle opener and closure embodying my invention. Fig. 2 represents a plan and side View, respectively, of a device of modified form. Fig. 3 illustrates the use of the device of Fig. 1 in removing an interior sealing plug or cap. Fig. 4 illustrates the use of the device of Fig. 2 in removing an external plug or cap. Fig. 5 illustrates the device as a closure for a bottle from which the cap or plug has been extracted. 7

A represents a plate having its lateral edges turned over to form the transversely-curved and rearwardly-convergent rigid flanges 2. Intermediate of the flanges is a resilient packing or surfacing 3, of cork,'rubber,'or the like, adapted to cooperate with the flanges as a stopple, as will be explained later. The front or wider end of the plate terminates in a slightly-upturned and round or square pointed projection 4, somewhat similar in appearance to a screw-driver. The edges of thecplate intermediate of the end of projection 4 and the flanges 2 are bent upwardly, as shown at 5, in opposite direction to the flanges and afford a reinforce to the projection or opener 4, since the latter is designed to be inserted into a hollow sealing plug or cap, as shown at 6 in Fig.

' 3, for the purposeof prying it out and opening the bottle. These plugs are made of metal,

Serial No. 187,902. (No model.)

and thebottle-neck is provided with an interior annular flange into which the plug is expanded after the bottle is filled. By inserting the instrument 4 to engage one side of the cap and bearing down on the plate, with the edge of the bottle as a fulcrum, the cap is easily pried out.

In case the bottle is provided with an external annular ledge or shoulder, as 7, lying proximate to the end of the neck the bottle may be temporarily sealed by engaging the flanges 2 with the under side of the ledge 7 and pushing the plate across the mouth of the bottle until the rub ber facing 3 is pressed tight over the bottle-opening.

The rubber pad 3 may be secured to plate A by any suitable means, as cement or by stamping out a portion of the plate adjacent to its broader end to form an opening 8 and bending back a tang of metal, as 9, to clamp and protect the forward end of the rubber strip, while the rear end of the plate may be similarly folded under, as shown at 10, to clamp and protect that end of the strip.

Where sealing-caps of the type shown in Fig. l-that is, caps applied externally to the bottle-are to be removed, the device would be constructed as shown in Fig. 2, in which case the only change necessary would be to enlarge the opening 8 in plate A so that in width it would be approximately equal to the diameter of the cap and in depth would be suflicient to allow the rear edge of the opening 8 to be engaged beneath the lip of the cap, with the front edge of the opening resting on the rear end of the plate was lifted to pry of the cap.

Since the cap 6 is originally locked in position on the bottle by crimping its edges into an external annular groove proximate to the bottle-opening, the device A will serve as a closure in this instance as well as in the first. In fact, thedevice is intended primarily as a temporary closure.

By making the device 'with the flanges 2 separated more at their forward end than at their rear and by making them a trifle shallower at the rear it is adapted to fit across the mouths of diiferent bottles varying more or less from a uniform size, and the rubber is made thereby to seat the tighter over the bottle-opening.

By extending the flanges 2 the entire length of the plate the side portions on either side of opening 8 are strengthened and the rigidity of the plate when used as a lever to pry off caps is increased. The flanges 5 on the upper side of the plate give the necessary additional strength to the projection 4 and at the same time interpose no obstruction to the free passage of the plate across the mouth of the bottle when the device is used as a stopple.

The device may be stamped from a single piece of sheet metal, or it may be cast. It is to be understood that I do not wish to confine myself to the particular configuration here shown, the invention comprising, essentially, a block, plate, or handle with lateral rigid grip members adapted to engage the outside of the bottle-neck when the block, plate, or handle, however it may be termed,

I is moved across the mouth in a direction transverse to the axis of the bottle, a resilient packing or pad between the grip members to aflord a tight seal when the device is in position over the bottle-mouth, and means in conjunction with the handle for removing the original metal seals.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patexit, is

1. As a new article of manufacture a plate adapted as a temporary closure for bottles and to be disposed transversely over the mouth of a bottle, and having means for engaging the exterior of the neck to hold the plate in position, and means in conjunction with said plate for removing a bottlesealing cap,

2. As an article of manufacture, a plate provided with means for removing metal sealingcaps from bottles and having opposed convergent lateral members to engage an external ledge or protuberance on the bottle-neck to aflord a temporary closure for said bottle after the removal of the cap.

3. As a combined capped-bottle opener and closure, a plate having opposed transverselycurved lateral flanges, a rubber or like surfacing on said plate intermediate of said flanges, and. means in conjunction with said plate for removing metal caps from bottles.

4:. A bottle-stopple comprising a plate having means for engaging the external flange or ledge on the bottle-neck and adapted to be applied to the bottle in a direction transverse to the axis of the bottle.

5. As an article of manufacture, a plate having integral, rigid, lateral, convergent grip members to engage the outside of the neck of a bottle and a resilient packing secured permanently to the plate between said grip members and adapted to form a tight seal when the plate is engaged across the mouth of the bottle. I

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

CHARLES CADY.

Witnesses:

L. I. REED, EUGENE L. BROOK. 

